Wayside Community

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Roberts County, settlers came to this locality in 1876. That's your starting point.

No fanfare, no ceremony. Just folks showing up and putting down roots on the Texas plain. The county organized in 1889, and the following year, 1890, Pioneer School District Number Five was called into being by court order.

It served this area with schools known as Tallahone, Poole, and Wayside. Now, these weren't grand brick institutions. They were taught usually in homes.

Think about that for a moment. A parlor, a kitchen table, children hunched over slates while somebody's mother or father kept one eye on the lesson and one eye on the weather. That's how education worked out here.

Then came 1914, and things changed. A man named Frederic Foster, all the way from New York, gave two acres of land to the county for a proper school site. The district bought the materials.

The patrons, the community itself, erected the building. Twenty-eight by thirty-six feet. And they painted it red.

The trustees that year were James A. Poole, J. M.

Story, and Earl Talley, and what they built became something larger than a schoolhouse almost immediately. Elections were held there. Church services.

Community gatherings of all kinds. That red schoolhouse became the beating heart of Wayside. Now, the years weren't always easy.

Enrollment went up and down with the droughts, up and down with the oil booms, buffeted by every economic wind that crossed the panhandle. But Wayside prided itself on scholastic excellence through all of it. Starting in 1929, high school students were transferred by bus into Pampa, with the Wayside District paying their tuition.

Then in 1933 and 1934, all grades made that trip, and that arrangement held until 1950, when Wayside consolidated with Pampa entirely. After consolidation, the White Deer Land Company, which by then had succeeded Frederic Foster as the relevant party, deeded that red schoolhouse over for continuing community use. The trustees who received it were Paul Caylor, R.

E. Montgomery, and J. T.

Roberts. And as of 1974, when this story was set down on a marker, the current trustees were C. W.

Osborne, J. T. Rogers, and Jack Sloan.

Seventy-four years after Pioneer School District Number Five came into existence by court order, the community was still there, still meeting, still gathering in that red building that patrons built with their own hands. Some things out on the Texas plain just refuse to quit.

What the marker says

Settlers came to this locality in 1876. The county was organized in 1889. Pioneer school district no. 5 originated by court order in 1890 to serve this area with schools known as Tallahone, Poole, and Wayside, taught usually in homes. In 1914, Frederic Foster of New York gave this 2-acre school site to the county. The district bought materials, and patrons erected this 28 x 36-foot schoolhouse, painting it red. It soon became the focus for the community - site for elections, church services, and other activities, as well as housing the Wayside School. The trustees in 1914 were James A. Poole, J. M. Story, and Earl Talley. Despite enrolment fluctuations caused by drouths, oil booms, and other economic factors, Wayside prided itself on scholastic excellence. Beginning in 1929, high school students were transferred by bus into Pampa, Wayside District paying their tuition. In 1933-1934, all grades were transferred - an arrangement used until 1950, when Wayside consolidated with Pampa. White Deer Land Company, successor to original donor Frederic Foster, then deeded the red schoolhouse for continuing community use to trustees Paul Caylor, R. E. Montgomery, and J. T. Roberts. Current trustees are C. W. Osborne, J. T. Rogers, and Jack Sloan. (1974)